“Wonder” – Why Every Human Needs to Watch It

Posted on November 19, 2017

When I received an invitation to attend the premiere of Wonder the movie, I’ll be honest, I had never even heard of it. We don’t have cable, so I never see commercials and hardly ever know what’s coming out in theatres. I quickly clicked over to YouTube to watch the trailer to see if I was interested in going. Cue the tears and I mean LOTS OF TEARS, from just watching the trailer. I sent a text to my husband and asked if he heard of the movie (which he hadn’t), and asked him if he wanted to see it with me. After he watched the trailer, he responded “Nope! I don’t want to cry the entire movie!” The trailer is THAT moving.

Well, he ended up coming with me and just as predicted, we both cried throughout most of the movie, ending with a pretty big “ugly cry” at the end. I felt like I went on such a ride emotionally throughout the two hours of the movie and ended in the best place possible. You see, some emotional movies have tragic endings that leave you uneasy long after the movie ended. This one was different though. While it left me with lots to think about post-theatre, it also left me walking out with hope in my heart that there IS good in this world and that there are people who still want to champion it’s cause.

This movie will likely not win any awards as it wasn’t your typical Hollywood blockbuster, but let me tell you, it will likely be the most profound movie you will watch this year.

Every human on this planet should watch this movie, adults and children alike. My husband and I talked on the way home that we want our older two to watch this movie with us and be able to have good conversation afterwards with them. As a human this movie affected me greatly, but more so as a Mom, my heart ached with the mom’s heart in this movie and also longs for my children to know and exude kindness to all they meet in life.

Without doing a detailed review (because I really just want you to go see it), let me do a quick recap of the storyline: Auggie, the main character in the movie, has facial deformities and is entering 5th grade and will be going to school for the first time (apart from the home schooling he’s done in the years past). He encounters various bullies along the way but as the story moves along, you start to see that kindness wins. That slowly, this boy who looks different than the rest, has a profound impact on those around him. There are multiple other story lines that run parallel to Auggie’s story and each and every one of them is profound and thought provoking and is guaranteed to make you well up with all kinds of feels.

As each character has their own struggles, in the end, kindness wins the day. It is a beautiful story of human strength in the face of uncertainty, of perseverance in the face of challenges and kindness in the face of hate. And it is all done in such a beautiful way.

I believe this is not just the best movie of this year, but will go down as one of the best movies I have ever seen. I can’t wait to take my kids to see it and I hope you will all go see it too.